Athlon Sports recently released its Big Ten Player Rankings: The Top 50 players for 2012, and two-time reigning Big Ten champ Wisconsin highlights the top of the countdown. Five of the first 12 names are Badgers, headlined by Heisman Trophy candidate Montee Ball, at No. 1, and left tackle Ricky Wagner, at No. 6. While Wisconsin dominates the top of the list, Michigan State (9), Nebraska (8) and Ohio State (8) all boast more overall players than Wisconsin (7).

Good news! Dave Revsine, Gerry DiNardo and Howard Griffith and the rest of our BTN team is still heading out for our annual Summer Football Tour (have you seen the bus?) but the TV show times have changed. Every team still gets an hour-long show, but they will debut at 10 p.m. ET a few days earlier than previously schedule. See our new show schedule in this post.

Our Big Ten writers’ 2012 Big Ten mock draft is gaining steam and through Round 4. Relive all the Round 1 selections and Round 2 picks. Here’s how this works: writers from all 12 Big Ten teams partake in the six-round draft, picking a QB, WR, RB, TE, Defensive player and K. Check out all the Round 3 and Round 4 selections in this post.

Who’s going to win the Big Ten this football season? Not two-time reigning champ Wisconsin, according to CBSSports.com’s Jerry Palm. Palm predicts Michigan in the Rose Bowl, the bowl reserved for the Big Ten champ, in his latest 2012-13 bowl projections. Fear not, Wisconsin fans: Palm has your Badgers playing in the Fiesta Bowl.

Our annual summer BTN Football Tour starts next week and our tour bus is getting warmed up for the trip by driving around Chicago. As you can tell from the photo in this post, it stopped by Wrigley Field. Where will it be next?